Military time is not only used by the military, but is also used by law enforcement and hospitals. Military time is used to record time more accurately since it is divided into 24 hours. If you want to know how to tell military time, just follow these easy steps.

Steps

1

Understand the military clock. The military clock starts at midnight, known as 0000 hours. This is called "Zero Hundred Hours." Instead of having a twelve-hour clock that resets twice, in military time, you work with one clock that starts with 0000 at midnight and runs all the way until 2359 hours (11:59 p.m.) until it resets at 0000 hours at midnight again. Note that the military clock does not use the colon to separate the hours and minutes.

For example, while 1 a.m. is 0100 hours, 1 p.m. is 1300 hours.

Contrary to popular belief, the military does not also call midnight 2400 hours, or "Twenty-Four Hundred Hours."

2

Learn how to write the hours from midnight until noon in military time. To know how to write the hours from midnight until noon in military time, you just have to add a zero before the hour and two zeros afterward. 1 a.m. is 0100 hours, 2 a.m is 0200 hours, 3 a.m. is 0300 hours, and so on. When you reach the two digit numbers, 10 a.m. and 11 a.m., just write 1000 hours for ten a.m. and 1100 hours for 11 a.m. Here are a few more examples:

4 a.m. is 0400 hours.

5 a.m. is 0500 hours.

6 a.m. is 0600 hours.

7 a.m. is 0700 hours.

8 a.m. is 0800 hours.

3

Learn how to write the hours from noon until midnight in military time. Things get a bit more tricky as the hours ascend from noon until midnight. In military time, you don't start a new twelve-hour cycle after noon, but you continue to count beyond 1200 instead. Therefore, 1 p.m. becomes 1300 hours, 2 p.m. becomes 1400 hours, 3 p.m. becomes 1500 hours, and so on. This continues until midnight, when the clock resets. Here are a few more examples:

4 p.m. is 1600 hours.

5 p.m. is 1700 hours.

6 p.m. is 1800 hours.

10 p.m. is 2200 hours.

11 p.m. is 2300 hours.

4

Learn how to say the hours in military time. If you're dealing with whole hours without any minutes, saying them aloud is easy. If there's a zero as the first digit, then say the first two digits as "Zero" and whatever number is next, followed by "Hundred Hours." If there's a 1 or 2 as the first digit, then say the first two numbers as a pair of numbers with a tens and ones digit, followed by "Hundred Hours." Here's are some examples:

0100 hours is "Zero One Hundred Hours."

0200 hours is "Zero Two Hundred Hours."

0300 hours is "Zero Three Hundred Hours."

1100 hours is "Eleven Hundred Hours."

2300 hours is "Twenty Three Hundred Hours."

Note that in the military, "Zero" is always used to signify the zero digit in front of a number. "Oh" is used more casually.

Note that using "hours" is optional.

5

Learn how to say hours and minutes in military time. Saying the time in military lingo is a bit trickier when you're dealing with hours and minutes, but you can quickly get the hang of it. When you tell military time, you have to state the four digit number as two pairs of numbers with a tens and ones digit. For example, 1545 becomes "Fifteen Forty-Five Hours." Here are some more rules for this process:

If there are one or more zeros in front of the number, say them. 0003 is "Zero Zero Zero Three Hours" and 0215 is "Zero Two Fifteen Hours."

If there are no zeros in the first two digits of the number, then just say the first two numbers as a set with a tens and ones digit, and do the same with the last two digits. 1234 becomes "Twelve Thirty-Four Hours" and 1444 becomes "Fourteen Forty-Four Hours."

If the last number ends in zero, just think of it as the ones unit paired with the tens digit to its left. Therefore, 0130 is "Zero One Thirty."

6

Learn to convert from military time to regular time. Once you know how to write and say military time, you can become a pro at converting from military to regular time. If you see a number greater than 1200, that means you've reached the afternoon hours, so just subtract 1200 from that number to get the time using the 12-hour clock. For example, 1400 hours is 2 p.m. in standard time, because you get 200 when you subtract 1200 from 1400. 2000 hours is 8 p.m. because when you subtract 1200 from 2000, you get 800.

If you're looking at a time less than 1200, then you know you're working with numbers from midnight until noon. Simply use the first two digits to get the a.m. hour, and the last two digits to get the minutes to convert to military time.

In the video it says I can pronounce 0000 as twenty four hundred, while the passage above says it's zero hundred hours. Which is true?

wikiHow Contributor

Both are true, depending on who you ask. Midnight is like an ace card, it can be either really high or really low, so 2400 or 0000. Many times people use the first to denote a day ending, and the second to denote a day beginning. For example, Thursday ended at 2400, but Friday begins at 0000. They mean the same, and either use is just fine.

Why do people say 24-hour time is the same thing as military time, despite the two being different in terms of how they're written and pronounced?

wikiHow Contributor

Because the basic idea and function is the same. Military time works exactly the same as 24-hour time (as opposed to 12-hour time), and the numbers/times are the same, there's just no colon and it's pronounced a little differently out loud.

The minutes stay the same as on a 12-hour system. You just won't use terms like a quarter after, a quarter to, half past, etc. So let's say it's 1:17 P.M. You would say it's 1317 (thirteen-seventeen) hours.

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Video

Tips

The more you practice telling military time, the easier it will be.

You can subtract 12 from any value 12 or higher to give you the actual time in standard time. Example: 2100 hours-12 = 9:00 PM

Warnings

Be aware that military time is not the same as 24-hour time. Even though both time systems are divided into 24 hours, there are some differences. In military time, it appears as 1357 hours or 1357, while 24-hour time is shown as 13:57 without the word "hours". If you want to know more, click here.